Last week’s 0-0 draw with Lincoln won’t have done much to aid Sky’s viewing figures as City’s depleted side looked toothless without Magennis, Niskanen and Doyle. All three are expected to return to the squad for the next in a tough run of league fixtures, with Gary Caldwell also being forced to rejig his line-up thanks to the red card for Ryan Woods. Kevin McDonald started in the 1-0 U21 Cup win at Norwich on Wednesday night and may be poised to step in for Woods, otherwise Caleb Watts or Kamari Doyle could take his place.
You’d have to have been living under a rock not to have noticed the Hollywood circus around Wrexham in recent years. Ryan Reynolds and the other bloke have taken an active role in bringing Wrexham out of the non-league abyss, where they’d been since swapping places with City in 2008, to cruising through into League One and possibly beyond. While their riches have allowed Phil Parkinson to build an impressive squad, their efforts in rebuilding relations with the local community have led to a surge in support – now regularly pulling in five figure crowds having averaged around 4,000 in the last season before their takeover. On the field it took a couple of seasons to exit non-league but the Dragons have since gone straight through League Two and currently sit third in League One despite losing 1-0 at Stockport last weekend. Recent games have tended to be tight, with neither side scoring more than once in their last four fixtures in all competitions. This is perhaps surprising given the array of attacking talent at Parkinson’s disposal with the likes of Mullin, Marriott, Fletcher, Palmer and Bodvarsson. Elliott Lee is likely to pull the strings in midfield.
As the sides swapped in 2008, the last meetings between the sides took place back in City’s darkest season of 02/03. The match at the Racecourse Ground finished 4-0, Andy Morrell’s hat-trick (one from the spot which followed a red card for Chris Curran) and one from Darren Ferguson sealing the points in a match where it was rumoured that there was a huge dressing room bust-up. City gained a measure of revenge in March as Gary Peters tried to keep City in the league, Steve Flack’s goal clinching a 1-0 win. The sides are level in the league head to head with ten wins apiece, 12 matches finishing level.
The match officials for this game will be:-
Referee: Stephen Martin
Assistant Referees: Mark Dwyer and Greg Read
Fourth Official: Thomas Parsons
The Staffordshire based referee last took charge of an Exeter game in November 2020, a 2-1 defeat at home to Oldham Athletic.
Interview with Gary Caldwell
Interview with Kamari Doyle
